Robin van Persie is enjoying life so much at Manchester United that he will beg Sir Alex Ferguson to play him against Reading in the FA Cup at Old Trafford tonight,

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The Dutchman is living the dream with the Premier League leaders – and although Real Madrid to the Royals might seem a come down, he doesn’t want to miss a minute of the action as the Reds hunt Treble glory.

That’s why he will urge boss Fergie to ditch his protective rotation policy. The striker decided to quit Arsenal for Old Trafford last summer was his desire to lift trophies.

Van Persie admits he was born for the big stage and the 29-year-old is lapping up every moment of drama. So much so, he’s just dreading the day when it all finally ends.

He said: “The way this season is going it feels like it could be very special and I am loving it. I love games like the one at Real. Huge games when you don’t really know what is going to happen.

“Where it is a thin line between winning and losing the game. I love the buzz, excitement and drama.

“I live for that. And I can’t imagine that day when I stop playing and it’s all over for me because I know I will miss the buzz so much.

“When you play games like that in the Bernabeu you give your all.

“Because we didn’t have the Reading game for almost a week after that, you know that you can give it everything and we all did.

“I like to play more games straight in a row. I love that as I get into a rhythm and get used to a game every three days.

“And when you don’t play for more than a week, it can take you 10-15 minutes to start the next game because you miss that rhythm.

“So I prefer to keep going, to keep playing game after game. That’s why I want to play against Reading. I really hope the manager picks me.”

Fluffed: Van Persie can only watch on as his scuffed shot is cleared off the line (Image: Reuters)

Van Persie had only one thing in mind when he quit Arsenal in a £24million switch to United last summer – trophies. Now he has the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in his sights.

The Holland ace added: “I have played a couple of big games for United already and I love that. The smaller games are important too – because they are the games that make you champions.

“And when you are at Manchester United every game is a big game. But the matches against teams like Real Madrid are the icing on the cake.

“Games against Man City, against Liverpool in the Premier League and Real in the Champions League are fantastic because you have to be at the highest level every time.”

The 23-goal star could have been the hero in the Bernabeu with a couple of late chances to beat Jose Mourinho’s men and take a precious lead back to Old Trafford.

But the normally deadly Dutchman fluffed his lines for once, leaving the tie perfectly poised at 1-1. He said: “That second chance just after I had hit the bar, that should go in. I slightly mishit it. I wanted to hit it hard, but I just could not produce the power.

“It is a fair result. It could have gone both ways. We could have nicked it, they could have nicked it.

“Games like this are among the greatest you can play in as a player. Before we went out the manager said, ‘Don’t play the occasion, play the game’ and I think we did that.”

He added: “I usually read the papers, but I didn’t this week for that reason.

“This tie is not about me against Ronaldo. It isn’t about one or two players. This is two great teams playing each other and that’s the way I approached it, that’s the way we approached it as a team.”

Despite holding a precious away goal, Van Persie reckons the tie is far from won for United.

He insisted: “We can’t afford to sit back and think the job’s done, but that’s not in United’s DNA.

“We know great teams – Barcelona, Real, Manchester United – don’t worry about if it is home or away.

“If you are a small club then yes it can make a difference, but not for us at United. And not for Real. We didn’t really care where the game was being played.

“If we’d been playing in the park down the street we would have played the same way, with the same intensity and energy.

“We are all good, experienced players who are used to games like this. And that showed. Hopefully, we can go far in the Champions League this season – and test ourselves against other top teams like Real.

“But let’s just get beyond Real Madrid first. It is a massive test for us.”